


He Can't Be Superman, He's Clark

by LeeMorrigan



Category: Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, DECU, Justice League (2017), Man of Steel (2013)
Genre: But then Clark nerds, Chivalry ain't dead, Couples Bathing, F/M, Glasses and mild manners hide his ID, Jenny suspects, Kansas Farm Boy, Lois and Clark mushiness, Lois covers for Clark, Metropolis, Mild Mannered Reporter, Office Dynamics, Perry hides it well, Superman - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-14
Updated: 2020-07-27
Packaged: 2021-03-03 02:53:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 7,133
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24177709
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LeeMorrigan/pseuds/LeeMorrigan
Summary: Why is it that no one ever suspects that dark-haired, tall guy at the Daily Planet of being Superman? Could it be the mild-manners, the nerdy way he can't open a pickle jar, how he honestly doesn't realize he's being flirted with, or are he, Lois, and Perry just really good at covering his tracks? Slice of life fic based off a post on Tumblr, about how Clark is a sober buddy to deflect creeps, can't hold his liqueur, and is just a nice farm boy from Kansas, and that's why no one suspects Lois's obvious crush of being Superman. Even if he does have mile-wide shoulders and a jawline sculpted by a master artist.Tooth rotting fluff with Lois and Clark scenes.
Relationships: Clark Kent & Martha Kent, Clark Kent & Original Female Characters, Clark Kent & Perry White, Clark Kent/Lois Lane, Lois Lane & Original Female Characters
Comments: 6
Kudos: 43





	1. Welcome to the Planet

**Author's Note:**

> I saw a couple things on Tumblr about things that probably happened with Clark, in his everyday life after he came to work at the Daily Planet, that would account for how no one realized he was Superman and how nice it would be for his coworkers (esp. the female coworkers) to have him around when they all went out for drinks after work. I ended up throwing in a bunch of Lois/Clark fluff because apparently Corona madness has manifested in me as a desire to let everyone in my stories have sweet, fluffy scenes with their s/o. Also slightly inspired by the scene in the movie with the truckers who won't leave the waitress alone, even when Clark tries to quietly intercede. 
> 
> Trigger Warning: Clark is still dealing with the revelations/etc. from Zod, Jenny is still dealing with her near-death experience during the attack, Lois is coping pretty well but she worries about Clark. There are scenes of a somewhat intimate nature (not sex though) between Clark & Lois such as them bathing together, sleeping next to each other, and generally being in each other's personal space a lot. Discussions of why young, slightly buzzed females might want a large, imposing male friend to hang out with them and keep the creeps at bay. There is a slight fight.
> 
> PS: Lois doesn't get to do a lot in this first chapter till the last third of it. Next chapter, she gets a lot more to do.

Tia, Mariana, and Alice all stood in the bathroom of the Daily Planet, getting ready for the evening. All of them had a regular get-together on the third Friday of the month. They would go to one of the local bars, have a few drinks, unwind from their week, dance, and have a good time. This week was the first since the attack by that Zod-alien who was looking for Superman. Metropolis was a bit of a mess, yet the bars had opened and none of them wanted to miss out on a chance to spend some time together. Time that had nothing to do with deadlines or bylines.

Tia pulled her hair down from the pinned up little bun, teasing it and playing with her curls to try to give them a little more life. Next to her, Alice was pulling chunks of her thick blonde hair away from her heartshaped face. Mariana had come with her wavy black hair ready to go for this evening, and had only needed to change from her blouse and slacks, into a pretty dark red dress that was better suited to dancing than writing about taking stains out of satin. They were 26, 28, and 27, professional women in a high-pressure line of work. They needed this time to unwind. They just had to wait for Jenny to get out of her meeting with Perry, as she was helping orient the new guy.

“Did you ladies get a peak at our newest edition to the Planet?”, Alice asked with a grin in the mirror, as she applied some eye liner.

Tia nodded, still working to make her hair behave. Mariana applied a darker shade of lipstick overtop the lighter shade she had sported all day.

“He is a hunk.”, Tia commented.

“His jaw could cut glass.”, Alice added.

“I like his shoulders.”, Mariana added.

Tia sighed.

“Afraid he’s taken though. Did you see how Lois was looking at him?”

Mariana shook her head.

“More like how he was looking back. Sorry ladies, we’re all officially chop liver. Lane’s got him in the bag.”

They all chuckled a bit, still putting the finishing touches in place as Jenny walked in.

“What’d I miss?”

“Lois has Clark in the bag.”, Alice answered.

Jenny rolled her eyes.

“I love her, don’t get me wrong, but he’s so sweet. I wouldn’t have taken him for her type.”, she said as she headed into a stall to change into the pretty blue dress she had over her arm.

Alice shrugged.

“I always pictured her with some high priced, nice suit, Type A personality. Probably one who got his fancy education due to a scholarship and he likes sticking it to the Richie-rich types he went to school with, the way Lois likes to stick it to men who think she isn’t tough enough for this job.”

Tia nodded, finally satisfied with her own makeup.

“I figured she’d snag some National Geographic photographer, who had about 7 to 10 years on her, looked nice enough in a suit, but was gone often enough that she only had to occasionally deal with him.”

Mariana leaned back against the wall, considering.

“Why don’t we invite she and Clark to come with us?”

Alice and Tia looked over at her, confused and surprised.

“What? He’s super-sweet, and it would be nice to let the new guy come hang out with us. Give him a chance to get to know a few more people here. Plus, with him around, you think any creeps are gonna bother us? He looks like he bench presses a Mac truck.”

Alice nodded, Tia arched an eyebrow.

“You don’t think Lois will think we’re trying to steal him away?”

Jenny spoke up from her stall.

“Lois wouldn’t think that. Besides, she’s never come in any of the times we’ve invited her, maybe she would if he was there.”

Stepping out, Jenny did a little twirl to show off her dress. She was still feeling the effects of her near-death experience under the rubble, last month. She wanted to have a good time with her friends and pretend, for a night, that Metropolis hadn’t been attacked and she hadn’t begged Perry and other coworkers, not to leave her to die alone.

“Beautiful!”, Tia exclaimed.

“Thank you. Thank you.”, Jenny beamed.

“Alright, finish up and I’m gonna go grab Lois to invite her and Clark.”

Alice shewed her off while Mariana checked her reflection once more and Tia applied the last bit of makeup to her cheeks. It took Jenny very little time to find Clark. He was standing just outside of HR, reading some papers. She didn’t see Lois.

“Clark?”

He looked up. It really should have been illegal to look so good in a plaid shirt and nerdy glasses. He was like the male version of the Sexy Librarian and Jenny wanted to curse.

“Jenny, right?”

“Yup. Hey, a few of us go for drinks every few weeks, to blow off steam, dance, have some fun. We wanted to invite you and Lois.”

“Oh, does Lois usually go?”

Jenny shook her head, letting out a small sigh.

“We’ve invited her but she’s always busy. Think you could talk her into coming? Besides, we figure this will give you a chance to get to know a few of us and for us to get to know the new guy.”

“Well, I think Lois is still on the floor. I could go ask if she’d like to join in.”

Smiling, Jenny nodded.

“Thanks. Please, try to talk her into it? She really should give herself a chance to relax, wind down a bit, after all she’s been through this past couple months. What with Superman, kidnapped by aliens, and… all that.”

Clark nodded, a small, understanding smile on his lips.

“I’ll go hunt her down and ask. If I catch her, where should we meet you?”

“Here, give me your phone. I’ll type it in for you so you can find it.”

The man handed his phone over as if it never occurred to him a girl might ask for any reason than her stated purpose. He really was too sweet. Jenny didn’t know how he was going to survive as a reporter in this world. Handing back his phone, she smiled.

“See you in a few, if you guys decide to come. If not, I’ll see you Monday.”

He nodded, still smiling.

~*~*~*~*~

Clark had been at the Planet for nearly 8 months and every third Friday, unless he was gone with Lois or the one time he had showed up two hours late due to Superman being needed at a forest fire in Canada, he and Lois were with Tia, Mariana, Alice, and of course, Jenny. Sometimes, Lois was too busy to come or she would leave early to work on her latest article. Clark always stayed. Jenny and the other three ladies had no idea he had overheard part of their reason for his being asked to keep tagging along. He was a Sober Buddy as well as Creep Deterrent. If he wasn’t available, they mostly dealt with knowing creeps would bother them, and one time they took the new photographer- Jimmy Olsen.

Nursing his glass of cola, Clark listened as Tia began telling another joke. Once she had gotten her second drink, she would begin telling punny jokes. Clark enjoyed them. Alice and Jenny didn’t, though Mariana tried to guess the punchline every time. She finished her joke in time for a change of music on the speakers of the small club they had opted for this evening.

“Oh, this is my jam! This is my jam!”, Alice called as she tugged on Tia’s arm.

“Come on, dance with me!”

Tia laughed but offered no objection. The two women moved out onto the dance floor, both clearly a bit tipsy but having too good a time to care. Clark kept an eye out. He was just about to ask Jenny about her transfer when two men began to move in on Tia and Alice. He could already tell the men did not mean to just dance with all the ladies on the floor.

“Excuse me.”, Clark apologized as he had to get Jenny to scoot out of the booth so he could leave.

“Ew, no. Go away.”, he heard Alice mutter beneath the music and singing members of the crowd.

Clark was next to she and Tia in a heartbeat, letting Tia lean against him and gently stepping to block the second creep from being able to close in on Alice. Both men seemed surprised, the taller one glared as the shorter one, who had been all over Alice’s arm, looked back and forth between Clark and Alice.

“I was dancin’ with the girl, dude. You’re in my way.”, the shorter one said.

“These ladies are both with me and I don’t think either are inclined to dance with you, gentlemen. Why don’t you go up to the bar and order something, and I’ll walk these ladies back to our table.”

The tall one shoved at Clark, and he had to remind himself to let it move him just a little rather than letting the jerk crack a bone. Causing either of these jerks a little pain was tempting though.

“What’re you gonna do if we don’t walk off? Huh? You don’t look that tough and there’s two of us, if you can’t count.”

Alice tugged on Clark’s elbow.

“Come on, Clark. Let’s just go.”

He kept his eyes on the two men, moving with Tia and Alice back towards the table. They had almost made it back to Mariana and Jenny when the taller man tried to swing a bottle at Clark’s head. Clark moved, catching the man’s wrist, stepping a foot behind the man’s foot, and shoving the man backwards, allowing him to trip and land on his own butt. The shorter man looked between his pal, Clark, then back to his pal before scrambling away. The tall man crawled backwards and away as Clark stared him down for a few seconds. Then, it was over.

“You alright?”, Jenny asked her two friends as they moved between she and Mariana.

“Yeah, just a little shaken.”, Tia muttered.

Alice looked at Clark. He had seemed so… dangerous. Not at all like the sweet, nerdy guy they were used to.

“Where did that come from, Clark? That was some serious ninja you had going on there.”

He blushed a bit, his look sheepish as he rubbed his palms against his dark jeans. Alice wondered if he was trying to hide sweaty hands so they wouldn’t see how nervous he had truly been.

“I took a self-defense class with my mom, when I was 12.”

Mariana smiled over at him as he sat down next to her.

“Bet your mama never had to worry much about anyone bothering her. Not with such a tall, strong son and probably a papa just like you.”

Clark ducked his head down, a small smile on his face. Jenny figured he must have been one of those rare men who genuinely liked being compared to his father. Most of the men she met, thought it was calling them ‘old’ or something of the sort.

“Thank you, Clark.”, Tia told him.

“How about after these drinks, we all head home?”, Mariana suggested.

Everyone nodded, and began working to finish up their drinks a little faster than before. As usual, Clark walked them all out and waited until the last one had gotten a ride back to her apartment, before he began walking down one of the streets towards his apartment. He smiled, checking both directions before ducking down into an alley and quickly changing to Superman attire. He took off into the air, moving swiftly to Lois’s apartment.

Clark had his own apartment, in a less-ritzy part of town than Lois’s, however he spent most of his free time with her at her apartment. The showers were too cold and small for her, at his place, and his one neighbor who insisted on burning everything they cooked, made it somewhat uncomfortable. Then again, he was hardly about to complain about Lois’s allowing him to spend so much time at her apartment. Her shower was huge, with better water pressure and a hot water supply worthy of writing poetry about. Then there was her kitchen. It was almost as big as his mother’s kitchen back home, yet Lois had mostly used the fridge and microwave- both of which served to handle her leftover takeout.

A moment later, Clark was standing on the balcony of Lois’s apartment. It was narrow, but it was also nearly pitch black and so far up that no one would notice him. Two quick raps on the window alerted her to his arrival. He watched through the French doors as she looked up from the sofa, where she had been working on her laptop, her red hair falling down in her face and her glasses sliding down her nose. She was so beautiful.

Then, when she stood up, Clark was glad he didn’t need to breathe quite the way humans did on Earth or he would have been in serious trouble. Miles of pale leg, only lightly dusted with freckles, showed from under the shapeless sleepshirt she wore. Her fuzzy purple socks and the words, ‘Grammar Outlaw’ only added to the image that he loved so much.

Only a few months in and he was sure of it. He loved her. Fiercely, passionately, solidly. With the world almost ending around them, the return of Kyrptonians to Earth, meeting his father’s digital ghost, and having the world learn about Superman, followed by a new job, new apartment, new double life, and yet the one steady thing had been Lois’s tenacity.

“Hey, stranger.”, she teased as she opened the door and let him in.

“How was post-work drinks?”

“Alice and Tia attracted some drunken attention from a couple creeps.”

Lois grinned wickedly at him.

“I suppose you had to make sure they got lost?”

“I did. Took a minute. Afterwards, Alice and Tia were a little shaken up, since the one guy tried to hit me over the head with a bottle.”

He saw it. A quick flash of anger in her blue eyes, before she tamped it down. Despite all his strength and his relative invulnerability, sometimes he swore Lois could be a real pitbull about protecting him. Clark reached, holding her hand.

“They all went home and I flew over here. Figured I could proof-read your article and you could take a shower before bed.”

Since they had started seeing each other, they proof-read each other’s work. He caught her spelling and grammar errors, she helped him punch up his writing or sometimes pointed out where he wasn’t entirely clear. They made an excellent team, he thought.

Lois moved forward, letting her forehead drop against his shoulder as she let out a bit of a moan. Clark chuckled at her, letting his arms wrap gently around her.

“Too tired.”, she muttered.

“Well, I suppose I could stand behind you, hold you up.”

He heard her blow a raspberry against the shoulder of his suit.

“You’re just afraid I’ll fall asleep again.”

With that, his mind was flooded with images of the night he had come back from an assignment at the Planet, to find her sound asleep in her tub with the shower water running a cold. She had been jet-lagged and hadn’t slept in over 30 hours before she got home, then had scarfed a quick meal before hopping in what had been supposed to be a quick shower. He was still a bit surprised she hadn’t woken up with such cold water hitting her.

“I need to shower. You can read my article in the morning. It’s not done yet. Go ahead to bed, I’ll meet you in a bit.”, she said as she moved backward and turned.

Clark watched her for a moment as she headed towards her master bedroom. It did not take much debate, especially after she only bounced off the wall she walked into, on her journey to the shower. He moved, coming up behind her to scoop her up.

“What?”, she asked as she looked over at him.

Clark smiled, finding her tired expression cute.

“I’ve got you.”

She gave him a dopey smile and let him carry her back to the bathroom. He first deposited her on the toilet, before moving to begin drawing up a bath for her. He was aware she preferred a bath to a shower, and he enjoyed spoiling her a bit. She had been willing to go to jail to guard his secret and then had been willing to face the US government and military, as well as other world leaders AND alien invaders, and that was all before she and he had been involved. That had been for a relative stranger who had saved her months earlier, one time.

Once the water was the right temperature for Lois’s tastes, Clark put the stopper in and moved to Lois. He helped her out of her fuzzy socks, sleepshirt, and underwear, then held her hand as she stepped into the tub. Without a hint of self-consciousness, in part to her being so sleepy and in part because this was hardly the first time he had seen her naked in the low light coming from her bedroom lamp, she curled a finger to beckon him closer.

“Yes?”

“Join me?”

“You sure?”

She nodded, smiling a little. Clark couldn’t deny her. He quickly divested himself of his suit and such, moving to step in behind her. Once he was seated comfortably enough, he held her hands and let her balance against his grasp as she lowered herself into the rising water. Lois settled back against his chest, her head tilting back to rest against his shoulder, a deep sigh escaping her nostrils as her eyes slid closed. Clark smiled. He reached, wrapping his arms around her as he waited for the water level to come up.

He used his toes to switch off the tap once he was satisfied they had enough water to lay in, and he let Lois lay against him for a while, the tension melting from her muscles. He could watch, even without the added benefits of X-ray vision and other heightened senses, to see the effects of the steamy water.

“Clark?”, she asked, quiet and soft.

“Mm-hm.”, he said as he pulled up a cup and poured warm water over her red hair.

“What’d I do to deserve this? And you?”

“I fly off at odd times and leave you to cover for me, at work and in social situations, I’ve had you dragged off to face…”, he still had trouble talking about Zod.

Lois’s hand moved, giving his thigh a comforting squeeze. He looked to see her blue eyes looking back at him, concerned and reading. He might have been able to fool all the world about himself, but not Lois. Never Lois.

“You did what you had to, Clark. And I did what I could. Wasn’t like I was going to refuse a chance to talk to an alien invader, to get the Pulitzer.”, she tried to joke.

Clark leaned, pressing his forehead to hers, breathing in her scent as his eyes fell shut. He felt her hand, damp and warm, moving to message the back of his neck. He melted into her touch.

“Clark?”

“Mm-hm?”

“I’m glad we met on that glacial heap of a spaceship.”

He smiled, nosing her temple and her wet hair.

“Me, too.”


	2. The Pieces Coming Together

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Clark's return, Lois deals with the ramifications of dating a superhero, Clark's first Halloween office party at the Planet, and those third-friday-of-the-month get togethers.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Trigger Warning: Discusses Clark's death and his messed up head when he was brought back, Lois's nightmares about losing Clark, and interoffice bullying.
> 
> Notes: More fluff, a little angst, and more fluff.

A little over a year after joining The Planet’s squad of reporters, Clark was enjoying the first office party he had been in town for. Halloween. According to Lois, Christmas, New Year’s, Halloween, and St.Patty’s were the biggest parties at the Planet, and Clark was looking forward to it.

Clark had worked to find a costume, then near-last-minute, he decided to go for something he knew would give Lois a chuckle. Not to mention a good number of their other coworkers. He was especially looking forward to the reveal since Lois would be meeting him at the party instead of going together, as he had a witness he had to talk to before he swung home to change and head to the party.

Checking his reflection once more in the lobby windows, Clark smiled and moved to the elevator. There was already a cute clown he knew to be Larry from circulation, a Knight he was fairly sure was Lance from accounting, and a creepy doll holding a puppet- Clark didn’t know her or recognize her character fully. They arrived quickly to the party, where the other three moved off in different directions, while Clark headed over to where Jenny and Lois were talking to Perry and Jimmy Olsen.

Perry saw him first, pausing only for a second before he burst out laughing. Lois, Jimmy, and Jenny turned to look. Jenny held a hand over her mouth to muffle her chuckle, Jimmy shook his head with a smile, while Lois laughed hard enough to snort. Twice.

“Well, howdy Old McDonald.”, she managed to get out as Clark approached.

“That’s Old Scarecrow to you, Ms.Earhart.”, he teased as she stood a little taller, showing off her aviator jacket and coiffed hair.

Slipping an arm around the small of her back, Clark stood beside her as she, Jenny, and Perry finished listening to Jimmy’s story about nearly being trampled by a horse on his way in for the party. Clark was already enjoying his first office party.

A little while later, Clark was enjoying his second glass of the spiked punch when he overheard a pair of sirens. Something bad was going on, and not far away. He looked for Lois, spotting her near Jamal, the new business writer, and gave his glasses a double-tap on the side. A signal she had come up with for when he’d heard or seen something that meant he needed to go be Superman. Lois gave a subtle nod before turning her full attention back to Jamal.

Clark handed Jenny the drinks for she and Lois, making an excuse of needing to use the men’s room. Once he was out of sight, he quickly changed and flew out the office supply room’s back window. No one would see him leave or return later.

~*~*~*~*~

Over an hour later, Clark returned. It had been a multi-car pile up and had required him to help pull people from wreckage and get one man away from a nasty fire that had broken out in the middle of the accident. It only took a little while to get back to the party, though he could hear Jenny and Tia talking to Lois. They were worried.

“Should I send Jimmy into the men’s room? Clark left a really long time ago, and it was kind of sudden.”, Jenny commented.

Tia answered, “You don’t think he had an allergic reaction to the desserts, do you? I knew we should’ve put a warning that it had nuts, dairy, and carrots among the ingredients.”

Clark decided to go for a useful ruse. The country boy couldn’t hold his liquor. Making sure his steps were a bit slow and his posture that of someone who was tired, he made his way over to Lois and the others. Lois looked up, concerned.

“Clark?”

“Sorry Lois, I don’t think I got the right punch earlier.”

She played along, clearly having figured out what he was doing.

“Did you have Frankenstein’s Fury or the Vampire’s Blood?”

“Blood. It smelled nice.”

Lois moved, wrapping an arm around his waist.

“That was the spiked one.”

He nodded, rubbing at his temple. Lois looked over at Jenny and Tia.

“He’s not much of a drinker.”

“I’ll say.”, Tia commented with a worried look.

“You want me to call you guys a Lyft?”

“No thanks, Jenny. I’ll just get us a cab if he’s too wobbly.”

They said their goodbyes before heading out. Once they were a couple buildings away, Clark stopped pretending to lean on Lois and hold a hand to shield his eyes from the street lights.

“I’m sorry, Lois.”

She waved him off.

“Don’t worry. It’s was just as well you weren’t around, I may have created an HR incident.”

“Uh-oh.”, he tried to joke as they walked, still holding hands.

“Rory and Jake from sports, were being their usual selves only worse. Two of the most repugnant, idiotic, half-witted juveniles Perry ever had the misfortune to inherit.”

Clark smiled, despite knowing he would likely want to punch both men by the end of Lois’s recounting. He just loved seeing her impassioned face as she wound herself up, her free hand gesturing wildly as they walked. He also thought she looked rather fetching in her Amelia Earhart costume.

“They were making fun of poor Lance from accounting, they almost had the man in tears. You know he’s not the most outgoing guy at the Planet, but he’s a sweetheart and they were just being heartless weenies. I wanted to shove their faces in the Vampire Blood Punch.”

“I’d have paid to see that.”

She nudged him.

“Hey, you’re a superhero, you aren’t supposed to wish the pain of innocent people.”

He leaned a little closer to her ear, speaking for her only.

“If they make Lois Lane’s blood boil with righteous fury, they have it coming.”

She grinned a little.

“You just like it when I got Dragon of people.”

“It is not an inaccurate description, Jenny had, of you on a terror.”

Lois explained further of the hurtful comments the two sports-writers made of Lance, and how Lois had caught Lance starting to head out early when she went to the source and let them have it. She explained, using every college-word she could come up with, to explain what tiny creatures they were, before Perry could come in and throw the two guys out and grab Lance a drink.

“Marianne and Niella tugged Lance over to introduce him to the new girl in advertising. Looked like they were quietly and cutely hitting it off.”

“Still worry I had to cut your revelries short.”

“I get to home with the second hottest scarecrow I’ve ever seen, won’t hear me complaining.”

“Thanks Lo… wait, second-hottest?”, he asked as he inclined his head to look at her.

“Yeah. Lee Stetson, aka Scarecrow, the title spy from SCARECROW AND MRS.KING. I used to watch that all the time when I was a kid. It was in reruns but I still enjoyed it. He was a spy, he had a corvette, knew several languages, was played by Bruce Boxleitner, and he didn’t leave a trail of hay wherever he walked.”, she added as she tugged on some of the hay at his collar.

Clark chuckled, shaking his head.

“Yes, but can he fly you to Paris for breakfast cause you were craving croissants?”

“There is that.”, she mused.

“And does he know the perfect spot to rub your shoulders that almost instantly makes you fall asleep after a bad day?”

“I’m pretty sure you are the only one who knows my every Achilles Heel.”

He smiled down at her.

“You look beautiful.”, he said quietly.

She blushed a little.

“And I have to say, the leather jacket and boots are doing things for me.”

She playfully swatted him.

“Behave yourself, farmboy.”

“Just being honest.”

“Uh-huh.”, she said skeptically.

They walked most of the rest of the way in silence, still holding hands. Clark enjoyed their walk, with Halloween decorations everywhere, a few people in their costumes, and their hands joined. He still missed Smallville sometimes, but Metropolis had truly come to feel like home.

He smiled as he looked over at Lois. She was too busy reading a sign on a coffee shop about all their pumpkin, ginger, and cider-flavored offerings, to notice Clark’s open admiration. He considered, it wasn’t just Metropolis that made him feel like he was home, it was Lois.

~*~*~*~

Clark had found his life grew rather complicated after he took up the mantle of Superman. Not the least of those complications had been Lex Luthor engineering things to drive Bruce Wayne-aka Batman, the Gotham Knight- to attempt to kill Superman. Then there had been that thing born of Zod’s body and technology Lex didn’t truly understand. Diana and Bruce had stood with him, as had Lois, but ultimately he had needed to be the one to take the spear into the fight.

Then there had been darkness and cold. Muted sounds and sensations. He had longed to be able to open his eyes and to tell Lois and his mom that they didn’t need to cry, he wasn’t really gone. But he couldn’t.

When he woke, he wasn’t… right. Wasn’t himself. He nearly killed Batman with his bare hand.

Then Lois had stepped out of that police car, gently calling out his name. When he had met her eyes, and all the memories began resurfacing, bombarding him with thoughts, impressions, sounds, smells, emotions.

Lois, fresh out of a shower, running her pale fingers through her copper hair to tug out the tangles as she proof-read an article. Thanksgiving dinner with his parents, the smell calling him all the way out in the barn. The smell of Lois’s detergent on her pillows. His father’s hands guiding Clark’s as he taught him to properly swing a hammer. His mom’s voice telling him, “Just make it smaller.”.

He had moved without thinking, gently taking Lois into his arms. She conformed to his chest as if it never occurred to her that he might hurt her. Clark had been scared he might damage her in some way, that he would lose this string of memories and once more be the violent jumble he had been when he first woke.

Now, a year down the road and with the Justice League always a phone call away, Clark finally felt completely himself again. It had been slow-going, at first. Lois and his mom worked hard, Diana and Bruce helping, and Alfred helping all of them to cope, as they helped Clark find himself again.

Perry was not so clueless as Clark had believed. When Clark walked into his office, after hours when only a skeleton crew were still in the building, he half-expected Perry to have a heart attack at seeing a ghost. He found Perry bent forward at his desk, glasses low on his nose, chin resting in his hand.

Clark stood at the door for a moment before knocking. Perry opened his mouth to say something that, but it died on his lips as he made eye contact with Clark. Clark waited. Surely Perry would yell, tell him to get out, or think he was seeing things.

“I wondered how long it would take before you came back.”

“Pardon?”

Perry leaned back, his old office chair making an odd clinking sound like a rusted spring being bent the wrong way.

“Step in here and close the door behind you, Kent.”

He did as bid, but hovered by the doorway. For a moment, neither man spoke, just took in the changes since they last saw each other. Perry had more white sprinkled through his hair and Clark was aware he looked a little less farm-fresh than he had before.

“When I heard that Superman was back, tossing Batman around and fighting with Wonder Woman and a couple other super-powered men, I figured I would see you again eventually. Superman has come back, saved the day, and seems to be spending a good deal of time saving people.”

“He does.”

“But Clark Kent needs a job, am I right?”

Clark nodded.

“Something where I’m close enough to the action that I can be where I might be needed, without making people suspicious.”

Perry smiled.

“You start first thing, Monday morning in your old slot. Your replacement just quit on me a few days ago to go work for a place in New York.”, he said before turning his attention back to the paperwork in front of him.

“Perry?”

“Hmm?”

“When did you figure it out?”

“When I saw how Lane looked at you when I was giving you the New Guy Tour. It was the same way she had looked at Superman a few days earlier when Zod was trying to tear the world apart with his alien technology.”, looking up over his glasses, Perry smiled.

“Lane is no two-timer but her poker face failed her that once, and besides, I was close enough to you during Zod’s attack, to recognize you when I saw you in person.”

“So were others.”

“Yeah, but Jenny and the others aren’t old reporters always trying to sniff out a story. Now get out of here, Kent. I’ll see you Monday.”

He smiled.

“Thanks, Perry.”

Perry waved him off, eyes still on his work. That had been six months ago and while others had needed a story about Clark being injured during the fight Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman had with that monster by the river. That he had spent days in a coma, then when he woke, his memory had been useless and his ID missing so it had taken him a while to get back to himself and to find Lois. Everyone seemed willing to buy it as soon as Lois backed him up.

And now, it was the third Friday of the month. Clark sat in a corner booth, Lois tucked against his left side, watching Tia, Jenny, Marianne, Alice, and Rosalie’s back as the ladies all dance. Jimmy Olsen and Lance from accounting, were up at the bar getting refills for everyone.

Lois leaned in closer, knowing she could speak quietly without being heard. Clark inclined his head to allow her his ear without worrying anyone would notice he could hear her from too far away, in the din of the small club.

“This is nice, having this back.”

“It is.”, he agreed.

A slower song came on, prompting most of the ladies to come back to the table, enjoying their drinks as Jimmy and Lance arrived with them.

“Lois?”, he asked with a small smile, his hand offered up.

She smiled, letting him take her hand and gently lead her out onto the dance floor at the center of the room. The lights were lowered and the music was gentle in Lois’s ears as she leaned against Clark’s chest. Normally, she had not been one for dancing but it was hard to say ‘No’ to Clark.

Not long after they had begun seeing each other, they had been working at her apartment with the radio on. Some song caught Clark’s attention and he gently guided her to dance with him. Over the next couple months, she noticed he liked dancing in the kitchen to the radio or at social events when he had a chance to slow-dance with her, he always took it.

Martha and Jonathan, as Clark explained upon her asking why he was such a sucker for a slow dance, had been a quiet couple who weren’t into over the top PDA but that Jonathan always danced with Martha at every opportunity. Clark had further elaborated that he remembered how his mom smiled and how he could hear her heart skip a beat or two, even after all the years the Kents had been married. Clark had blushed brightly, his eyes evading hers, as he quietly added, “I want us to have that, hopefully.”

Ever since, Lois had been completely unable to turn down his offers to dance. It did not matter to her if he asked at a company party, on these third Fridays, or in their apartment at 4AM when neither of them could sleep. Before Clark, Lois had not given much thought to her future outside of work. She had not thought of where she would like to live when she retired, where she would like to spend the next 40 Christmases, or who she might wake up beside a year from now.

Now, Lois found she imagined a long, happy life with Clark. They might not be Martha and Jonathan, with their fairly simple life, out on a farm in Kansas, but when Clark was this close, his arms around her, a soft song playing to guide them, she was just Lois and he was just Clark. The Pulitzers, capes, super-villains, and culture clash of city vs. country, were forgotten.

“I don’t think I’ll ever get tired of dancing with you.”, she confessed quietly.

Clark smiled. The smile that was almost exclusively for her, showing off his dimples and slightly crooked tooth, he bright eyes softening. It made her feel like there was no one else in the world except she and Clark, as if he didn’t see anyone but her.

 _You are my world_ , he had said before he took off to fight that creature. Lois shivered. Clark tucked her in just a little closer to his expanse of chest.

“I’m sorry.”, he whispered.

Clark slept right next to her. There was no way to hide her nightmares from him and when he asked so earnestly, with his arms around her in the wake of the nightmares, she hadn’t had it in her to lie. She told him about her nightmares, replaying that scene over and over, seeing his lifeless body as Diana and Bruce handed it down to her. Burying Clark, throwing a handful of dirt on his casket. They had come back with a vengeance this past week, after Clark had gotten knocked out for a moment in a battle last week with Diana and Victor at his side.

“It can’t all be perks, when you date a member of the Justice League.”, she tried to joke.

“I still wish I didn’t make you worry.”

Looking up, she smiled at the kindest man she had ever known.

“Clark, if you were a perfectly normal human being, with the safest, most boring job in the whole world, and never left the apartment without me- I’d still worry about you.”

He nodded.

“I’m just sorry I don’t make it any easier on you.”

She rolled her eyes dramatically.

“As if I’d ever want an easy life.”

She felt his chuckle against her chest.

“That’s better.”

“I love you, Lois Lane of the Daily Planet.”

“I love you, Clark, even when you’re being too cute for a grown man.”

“No, you especially love me when I’m being too cute for a grown man.”

Lois narrowed her eyes playfully.

“Jerk.”

“I call ‘em like I see ‘em, Lane.”

“Yeah, yeah. Now you sound like Perry.”

The song changed to something far too fast for either of them. Lois tugged Clark back to their corner booth with their friends. Jimmy and Jenny were telling a story about a prank they had played recently on Rory and Jake, regaling everyone with how badly Jake and Rory had reacted to the harmless prank.

Clark let Lois slide in first, following behind her in order to wrap and arm around her back. She rested her head on his shoulder and listened to Jenny and Jimmy. For a while, everyone talked, joked, and laughed together. Over the course of the evening, they filtered out to head home, until Lois and Clark escorted Alice to her Lyft, and began the walk home.

Lois was sure she was nodding off as she walked, her head leaned on Clark’s shoulder. Clark must have realized too, as he wrapped his arm more securely around her in a way that left her toes barely touching the ground as Clark basically carried her one-armed back to their apartment.

Lois lost track until they were back in their place, with Clark tossing his keys into the bowl at the door and picking the mail off the floor from the slot. The whole apartment still smelled like the pie and the pasta Clark had made the night before. Martha Kent had made sure her boy knew his way around a kitchen.

“Bed?”, Clark asked as Lois just sort of leaned against the wall.

“Yeah, I’m beat. That round trip to London, then the one to LA right on top of it, have my brain so confused about what time it is.”

“And the nightmares don’t help.”

She shook her head.

“Come on, before I just park my keester right here for the night.”

Clark smirked and Lois’s fuzzy, jet-lagged mind barely caught up in time as Clark lifted her into his arms bridal style. She supposed, in the not-too-distant future, she would be in a white dress while he was in a tux as they did this. Lois felt the ring on her hand, familiar now after so long having worn it as if it were a wedding band and she a widow.

“No more dark thoughts, Lois.”

“I’m trying.”

“Do or do not, there is no try.”

She rolled her eyes, then snuggled into his shoulder.

“Geek.”

“Nerd.”

“Turd.”

She felt him chuckle before he put her down on the edge of the bed. He pressed a kiss to her forehead before he moved to grab his sleeppants and her night shirt. Sometimes she would think of one of the rare rom-coms she liked, when she would notice how she wore a top and he wore only bottoms, as they fixed breakfast together. Kate Winslet being educated by Eli Wallach as to what a ‘meet cute’ was, saying that it was a man and a woman each going to buy a set of PJs at a men’s store, and their eyes meeting as each had been explaining they only needed the bottoms or the top.

Minutes later, she lay in bed with her head resting atop Clark’s chest, his heart beating a steady rhythm against her ear, and his arms tucked around her. She had been so happy to find Clark wasn’t much for sleeping on his side, usually his back or sometimes his stomach, but never his side. This had meant rather than spooning, which she had hated with all previous partners, she could rest all tucked into his side. Clark hadn’t minded one bit.

“Goodnight.”, she said as she began nodding off in the warmth that radiated off Clark.

She felt a light chuckle and a kiss to the top of her head.

“Goodnight, Lois.”

She smiled. She was finally content. It felt like… being home. Lois liked it. And she loved the man who made her feel that way. Kissing his chest, she let out a sigh and was almost instantly asleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Lois Lane's costume is meant to be a wink/nod to Adams's having played Amelia Earhart in those NIGHT AT THE MUSEUM films.
> 
> The show she refers to was a real show starring Kate Jackson (of Charlie's Angels) and Bruce Boxleitner (of Supergirl, Tron, and Babylon 5), that ran for a from 1983-1987 about a divorced housewife who accidentally stumbles on a spy, Lee 'Scarecrow' Stetson as he's on a mission and she ends up working for his spy agency where the two later fell in love.
> 
> The comment about flying her to Paris for breakfast cause she wanted a certain pastry, is a vague nod to Kara & Lena in Supergirl.


End file.
